Bruins Nation

Two very evenly matched and talented teams went down to the wire. That's the only way I can think to describe Saturday's game. It was a very exciting game to watch. Henrik Lunqvist was incredible in net. The Bruins ofense played VERY well, but Lunqvist lept the Rangers in it. Meanwhile the Bruins defense, for most of the time, was able to shut down the stacked Rangers roster.

The Rangers got on the board first in the first period when Scott Gomez put the puck between Tim Thomas's legs. It was quite the coincidence. Throughout the game the Bruins were honoring Willie O'ree for being the first black NHL player, and the first Hispanic NHL player (you guessed it, Gomez) scores the first goal of the game. Later in the period the Bruins tied it up when Marco Sturm got to the puck near the side boards. His pass to Phil Kessel in front of the net hit off of Paul Mara's (yes, it's the same Mara) skate and went into the net.

A second period filled with the Rangers taking dumb penalties led to an excellent power play goal. This happened when Zdeno Chara made a beautiful pass to Chuck Kobasew. Kobasew was then about to skate to the net all alone when he was hooked from behind down to the ice from behind. On his knees Kobasew was able to retain possesion of the puck and shoot it by Lunqvist. The amazing goal made the Bruins up 2-1 heading into the third period.

The Rangers and Bruins came out with passion in the third period. It was the Rangers who were able to capitalize though. Early in the peirod when Zdeno Chara misplayed the puck, Jaromir Jagr was able to jam it by Thomas. Five minutes later, with two Bruins in the penalty box, Gomez fed a pass to Avery in front of the net. Avery easily put the puck in and the Bruins were all of a sudden losing. The losing part didn't last long. About a minute later, now on a Bruins power play, Dennis Wideman found a streaking Marco Sturm. Sturm wasn't able to get the puck in the net, but Chuck Kobasew had his back. Kobasew flicked the puck in and the game was tied. As the title of the post implies, the game went into overtime for the third straight time, however not before the Bruins put some quality pressure on New York. THis pressure didn't come from the Savard line or the Metropolit line. It came from the so called "kid line" of Sobotka-Krejci-Pelletier (pronounced Pell-tee-ay). The three Providence stars were on the ice for a long shift at the end of the game, almost scoring numerous times.

The game went into overtime. Three minutes in, Jaromir Jagr blatantly crashed into THomas and was sent to the box. The BRuins power play then set up and really did play well. They couldn't get one past Lunqvist though. Lunqvist ended the game with 36 saves.

The struggling Bruins shootout lineup went to the ice. The Bruins elected to shoot first this time.

B: Chuck Kobasew's shot was saved by Lunqvist.
NYR: Shanahan's hard wrist shot was stopped by the glove of Tim Thomas
B: Phil kessel sent the puck between the legs of Lunqvist
NYR: Prucha's shot was saved by Thomas, who went into the net but kept the puck out.
B: Zdeno Chara skated a little and then sent a 200 MPH slap shot by Lunqvist to end the game

The Bruins now have 51 points and are going to Madison Square Garden to play the Rangers again. That game will be Sunday at 12:30 on NBC. Immediately after the game the Patriots are hosting the San Diego Chargers on CBS. The winner of the game goes to the Super Bowl. This could end up being a really good Sunday or a really bad one. The way Boston's sports teams have been playing this year, I think that January 20th will be a very good day!